Notre Dame's Te'o: 'No way' I was involved in hoax

Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o is caught in the middle of a controversy stemming from his relationship with a girl whose reported death was exposed as a hoax.

Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o told ESPN on Friday night that he never was involved in creating the dead girlfriend hoax.

"When they hear the facts they'll know. They'll know there is no way I could be a part of this," Te'o told ESPN's Jeremy Schapp.

The comments were Te'o's first public remarks since Deadspin.com reported that his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, not only didn't die but, in fact, never existed.

Notre Dame and Te'o insist he was the victim of a cruel joke. Still unanswered are questions why the All-American never made it clear he knew the woman only online and by telephone.

Skeptics have questioned the versions of events laid out by Te'o and Notre Dame, wondering why Te'o never said his relationship was with someone online and why he waited almost three weeks to tell the school about being duped.

According to Notre Dame, Te'o received a call on Dec. 6 from the girl he had been in contact with only by telephone and online, and who he thought had died in September. After telling his family what happened while he was home in Hawaii for Christmas, he informed Notre Dame coaches on Dec. 26.

Questions remain

Notre Dame said it hired investigators to look into Te'o's claims, and their findings showed he was the victim of an elaborate hoax.

Te'o released a statement Wednesday, soon after Deadspin.com broke news of the scam with a lengthy story, saying he had been humiliated and hurt by the "sick joke."

ESPN officials posted a photo on Twitter late Friday night of Schapp with Te'o and his attorney. Te'o has been working out at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., as he prepares for the NFL combine and draft.

Former NFL coach Tony Dungy said Te'o could face the toughest questions from NFL teams.

"If I was still coaching and were thinking about taking this guy in the first round, you want to know not exactly what happened but what is going on with this young man and is it going to be a deterrent to him surviving in the NFL and is it going to stop him from being a star," Dungy said. "So just tell the truth about what happened and this is why, I think, that's the best thing."

Deadspin reported that friends and relatives of Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, a 22-year-old who lives in California, believe he created Kekua. The website also reported Te'o and Tuiasosopo knew each other - which has led to questions about Te'o's involvement in the hoax.

ESPN reported Friday that Tuiasosopo called a friend from church in early December and admitted he duped Te'o, without the Notre Dame linebacker playing a part in the deception. Deadspin.com, which broke the hoax story Wednesday, reported that Te'o might have played a role in the fraud.

The network cited an anonymous female source who claimed Tuiasosopo tearfully conceded that Te'o was not involved and that Kekua and her alleged car accident and battle with leukemia were all fabrications.

Timeline confusing

What remains unclear is the motive behind the Kekua character resurfacing Dec. 6 in a call to Te'o. In its timeline of the matter, Notre Dame said there was "persistent" contact from the person claiming to be Kekua well after that initial re-introduction.

To explain her prolonged silence and apparent rising from the grave, a duly preposterous explanation was concocted: Kekua had faked her death to avoid drug dealers, she told Te'o.

That story was first reported by the Honolu- lu Star-Advertiser and later confirmed to the Chicago Tribune by a person with knowledge of the situation.

That person also confirmed that Te'o asked for time-stamped, photographic proof of Kekua's existence, which he received.